E-Machines T2792 PC Desktop
is now running very very slow, but no errors are reported.
Can take 3 minutes just to open the browser, another minute to open my Yahoo mail.
Can this be a disk problem? Heat? What else?
Windows XP home serv pack 3

Heat could play an obvious factor. If the CPU is too hot, it will perform at a lower level than normal. If it gets very hot, it will shut itself down automatically. Heat can also place other components under stress, causing them to perform slower. Have you cleaned your PC recently? Dust buildup is a major cause of overheating.

Hard drives lose performance with age. If your drive has a flaw, it will experience problems much more rapidly than its better-constructed couterparts. You can use a program such as HDDHealth ( http://www.panterasoft.com/ ) to determine what sort of problems could be occurring with your hard drive. You should also try to defragment the hard drive (Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Disk Defragmenter), which will improve speed.

Memory is a big factor in computer speed. Memory saves information from all the programs you are running. If you press Ctrl+Alt+Del to open task manager, and select the 'performance' tab, you can see how much memory your computer is using. If it is high compared to what you have, that may be contributing to the problem. Switch to the 'processes' tab and look at any processes that are using a lot of memory. If you know that do not need them, close them.

The T2792 is an old system, meaning that it will struggle to run more recent applications and programs. If you are trying to run modern-day editing software or games, your computer probably cannot handle the load. The chances of something going wrong with a component continually increase with the age of the computer, too.

There can be a number of issues or just one. Most of the time its due to use. If you have broadband then you may have been to numerous sites all of which save some data on your C: drive also known as cookies sometimes to help you find similar information or to track your usage.

Over time you open and close many programs and create and delete many files which result in a heap of 'junk' files which are not displayed but take useful space. Internally the HDD head has to move past this junk to go to useful data thus slowing your computer.

Now for the solution, try the folloing:

Use an anti virus software if you do not have already and scan for viruses. These can really hurt performance.

If you have many toolbars, disable or un-install them from Control Panel. These are the primary reason your browser is slow. Reply back if you are unsure.

Right click on C: drive and select properties then select tools tab. You may want to defragment the drive and clean unnecessary files now. Don't worry these options cannot harm your Windows.

You can also try installing additional RAM or check out Win 7 which is much better in performance. And do try Firefox and Opera instead of IE.

Read the manual of your PC and learn to perform a factory restore keeping in mind to backupimportant data. This should work in most serious cases.

It may be that you now expect more from your machine than it can deliver like if you used a friends PC and it was faster and now you may see your PC as slower comparatively. In this case try to upgrade RAM if possible.

And as fro your question of disk problem, no it is not a reason. HDDs either work or fail completely but a very old HDD can develop bad sectors. Use disk check option in tools menu of disk properties. Other than that, newer OS like Vista and 7 use AHCI which is a special driver that configures disk for efficient seeking which XP lacks.

1 Suggested Answer

Hi,
a 6ya expert can help you resolve that issue over the phone in a minute or two.
best thing about this new service is that you are never placed on hold and get to talk to real repairmen in the US.
the service is completely free and covers almost anything you can think of (from cars to computers, handyman, and even drones).
click here to download the app (for users in the US for now) and get all the help you need.goodluck!

Tell us some more! Your answer needs to include more details to help people.You can't post answers that contain an email address.Please enter a valid email address.The email address entered is already associated to an account.Login to postPlease use English characters only.

I researched your question for you. The disks are avaliable but there is a cost to replace them. Click on this link or copy and paste the link into your web browser so it takes you there, here is the link.

For that open browser and go to tools menu then delete all cookies and temporary internet files.Then go to start menu ->run or Press windows key + R so you can see run then type in run "%tmp%" without "" then press enter .Then delete all temp files.Then type in run "prefetch" without "" then press enter then delete all prefetch files.Then type in run "chkdsk /r" without "" then press "y" then restart computer then it fix error on harddrive .Then your computer and browser run fast.Also update your antivirus from internet and scan computer .Let me know if you need further assistance.thanks for using FixYa.

have your pc scanned for viruses, viruses tends to cause these, if you finished scanning and theres no virus in your system have your hardware check, by a computer tech. a failing device is reason for a slow system

Try going to the control panel>performance and maintenance>disk cleanup. After running cleanup run the defrag. You can also cleanup your internet browser by deleting cookies, temp internet files, & browsing history. See if this helps speed up the system. Hope this helps & please rate this solution fixya. Thanks.